Dc level wandering cancellation circuit

ABSTRACT

A DC level wandering cancellation circuit is provided. The DC level wandering cancellation circuit comprises a low pass filter, for receiving an input voltage; a high pass filter coupled to the low pass filter; an amplifier coupled to the high pass filter for receiving a reference voltage and an output signal of the high pass filter; a comparator coupled to the amplifier for receiving an output signal of the amplifier to compare the reference voltage with the output signal of the amplifier; a resistor coupled between outputs of the high pass filter and the amplifier; a control logic coupled to the comparator for receiving a compared result from the comparator; and a switching means coupled between the high pass filter and the output of the amplifier. The switching means is turned on for a predetermined interval by the control logic according to the compared result.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 10/709,606,filed on May 18, 2004 and is now allowed. The entirety of theabove-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by referenceherein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is generally related to an apparatus generallyused in communication technologies. More particularly, the presentinvention of the apparatus relates to radio frequency identification(RFID) reader.

2. Description of the Related Art

In communication system, there is a serious problem due to impropertransmitted data waveform called DC wandering. It usually happens whenthere is a continuous transmission of high or low signals. There havebeen a number of coding schemes designed to overcome this problem, forexample, Manchester coding. This coding, however, has less bandwidthcompare to Non Return to Zero (NRZ) coding scheme. The present inventionis regard to overcome the DC wandering problems and a new reader circuithas been invented.

FIG. 1 is an example of the prior art that comprises a first resistorR1, a second resistor R2, a third resistor R3, a first capacitor C1, asecond capacitor C2, a diode D1, an amplifier 30, and a comparator 40.

The first terminal of the first capacitor C1 is to receive an inputvoltage V1, the first terminal of the second capacitor C2 and the firstterminal of the first resistor R1 are connected at a node 11. The secondterminal of the first capacitor C1 and the second terminal of the firstresistor R1 couple to the ground. The second terminal of the secondcapacitor C2 and the first terminal of the third resistor R3 couple to anegative input terminal of the operational amplifier 30 at a node 13.The reference voltage V2 is input to a positive input terminal of theoperational amplifier 30.

The first resistor R1 and the first capacitor C1 form a first order lowpass filter. The second resistor R2 and the second capacitor C2 form ahigh pass filter. The second terminal of the third resistor R3 and theoutput of the operational amplifier 30 couple to the input terminal ofthe comparator 40 at the node 14.

FIG. 2 shows the simulation result of the prior art. Referring to FIG.2, the waveform in the first row shows an input voltage V1. The secondrow shows the input terminal of the comparator 40 at the node 14. Italso shows a hysterias upper bound V7 and a lower bound V6. The thirdrow shows voltage of the output terminal of the comparator 40 at thenode 15. Referring to FIG. 2, the voltage at the node 14 is higher thanthe lower bound V6 of comparator 40 when time is greater than 122microseconds. As a result, the voltage at the node 15 has no statechange after time is greater than 122 microseconds. This error comesfrom the DC wandering. It has great effects on the output qualities of acommunication receiver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide afilter circuit and a reader circuit suitable for removing a DC wanderingeffect in a communication receiver.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the presentinvention provides a DC level wandering cancellation circuit forremoving DC wandering. The DC level wandering cancellation circuitcomprises a low pass filter, for receiving an input voltage; a high passfilter coupled to the low pass filter; an amplifier coupled to the highpass filter for receiving a reference voltage and an output signal ofthe high pass filter; a comparator coupled to the amplifier forreceiving an output signal of the amplifier to compare the referencevoltage with the output signal of the amplifier; a resistor coupledbetween outputs of the high pass filter and the amplifier; a controllogic coupled to the comparator for receiving a compared result from thecomparator; and a switching means coupled between the high pass filterand the output of the amplifier. The switching means is turned on for apredetermined interval by the control logic according to the comparedresult. When the compared result from the comparator is from a highlevel to a low level, or from a low level to a high level, an outputsignal of the control logic changes to a high level to turn on theswitching means.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the switching means can be atransistor. The low pass filter further comprises a first resistor and afirst capacitor connected in parallel, and the high pass filter furthercomprises a second resistor and a second capacitor connected in series,wherein the second capacitor is coupled between the first and the secondresistors. In this configuration, the switching means is coupled betweenthe control logic and a node between the second capacitor and the secondresistor.

The present invention further provides a DC level wandering cancellationmethod, for a circuit having an inverting-gain amplifier. The methodcomprises comparing an output signal of the inverting-gain amplifierwith a reference voltage; and feeding back the output signal of theinverting-gain amplifier to the inverting-gain amplifier when there is astate change in the compared result. The state change can be a level ofthe compared result changed from high to low, or from low to high. Inthis way, the DC wandering can be removed.

Therefore, in accordance with the aforementioned circuit and method, thecontrol logic receives the output of the comparator. The output of thecontrol logic circuit is set high for a short period of time when thereis a voltage change from high to low or low to high in the output of thecomparator, and is normally low. Subsequently, the switching means isclosed for a short period of time. As a consequence, the input and theoutput of the inverting gain amplifier are shorted. The shorted circuithelps to restore the output of the inverting gain amplifier to thestable state faster. Thus, there is no distortion from the input of thecomparator, and therefore, the present invention is unaffected by DCwandering.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended toprovide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a conventional circuit usually used ina RFID reader.

FIG. 2 shows the simulation result of the prior art.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary circuit of a DC level wandering cancellationcircuit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary circuit of the control logic in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is the simulation result of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodimentsof the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Likenumbers refer to like elements throughout.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary circuit of a DC level wandering cancellationcircuit according to one embodiment of the present invention. The DClevel wandering cancellation circuit comprises a low pass filter 20 forreceiving an input voltage V1; a high pass filter 22 coupled to the lowpass filter 20; an amplifier 30 coupled to the high pass filter 22 forreceiving a reference voltage V2 and an output signal of the high passfilter 22; a comparator 40 coupled to the amplifier 30 for receiving anoutput signal of the amplifier 30 to compare the reference voltage V2with the output signal of the amplifier 30 at a node 14; a resistor R3coupled between outputs of the high pass filter 22 and the amplifier 30(i.e., between nodes 13 and 14); a control logic 50 coupled to thecomparator 40 for receiving a compared result from the comparator 40;and a switching means S1 coupled between the high pass filter 22 and theoutput of the amplifier 30. The switching means S1 is turned on for apredetermined interval by the control logic 50 according to the comparedresult.

In one embodiment of the present invention, referring to FIG. 3, theswitching means S1 is a transistor, such as a MOS transistor. The lowpass filter 20 further comprises a first resistor R1 and a firstcapacitor C1 connected in parallel. The high pass filter 22 furthercomprises a second resistor R2 and a second capacitor C2 connected inseries. The second capacitor C2 is coupled between the first and thesecond resistors R1, R2. In this configuration, the switching means S1is coupled between the control logic 50 and a node 12 between the secondcapacitor C2 and the second resistor R2. A diode D1 can be furthercoupled to a common node 11 of the first resistor R1 and the firstcapacitor C1 of the low pass filter 20. Then, an input signal V1 isinput to the low pass filter 20 through the diode D1.

The second resistor R2, the resistor R3 and the operational amplifier 30form an inverting gain amplifier. The comparator 40 is used to comparethe difference in voltage between the node 14 and the reference voltageV2. The control logic circuit 50 is used to sense the output node 15 ofthe comparator 40. The output of the control logic 50 is normally low.When the voltage at the node 15 changes from high to low, or from low tohigh, the output of the control logic 50 becomes high for a short timeperiod, for example, 2 μs. As a result, the switching means S1 is thenturned on accordingly for a short period of time when state transientoccurs at the output of the comparator 40, i.e., at the node 15. Then,the output of the amplifier 30 is feed back to the high pass filter 22,i.e., the node 12. In this way, the nodes 14 and 12 are shorted for theshort time period, and the voltage at node 14 can come back to a stablepoint quickly. Therefore, the DC wandering effect can be removed and theoutput result of the comparator 40 at the node 15 is correct.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary circuit of the control logic in FIG. 3. Fordetail description of the functional operation of the control logic 50shown in FIG. 3, the control logic 50 can be configured in the circuitstructure in FIG. 4. The control logic 50 comprises a first inverter140, a second inverter 141, a XOR gate 142, a first NOR gat 143, a firstNOR gate 144, a first D-type flip flop 145 and a second D-type flip flop146. The input terminal IN of the control logic 50 is coupled to theinput terminal of the first inverter 140 for receiving the comparedresult from the comparator 40, and the output terminal of the firstinverter 140 is coupled to the input terminal of the second inverter141. The XOR gate 142 is configured to receive the output signal of thesecond inverter 141 and the input signal at the input IN of the controllogic 50. The output terminal of the XOR 142 is coupled to the firstinput terminal of the first NOR gate 143. The second input terminal ofthe first NOR gate 143, the output terminal of the NOR gate 144 and theinput terminal D of the first D-type flip flop 145 are coupled togetherat a node N1. The first input terminal of the second NOR gate 144 iscoupled to the output terminal of the first NOR gate 143. The secondinput terminal of the second NOR gate 144 is coupled to the outputterminal Q of the second D-type flip flop 146. The output terminal Q ofthe first D-type flip flop is coupled to the input terminal of thesecond D-type flip flop 146. The input terminals clk of the first andthe second D-type flip flop are coupled together for receiving a clocksignal.

FIG. 5 shows a simulation result of the above embodiment. The curve infirst row shows the input signal V1. The second row shows the inputterminal of the comparator 40 at the node 15. The second row also showsa hysterias upper bound V7 and a lower bound V6. The third row shows theoutput terminal of the comparator 40 at the node 15. When the comparatoroutput terminal 15 has a state change from high to low, or low to high,the switching means S1 is turned on, and the nodes 12, 14 are shortedfor a short period of time. The result is that the voltage of the node14 returns back to the stable point much faster than if there is no thecontrol logic circuit 50 and the switching means S1. From FIG. 4, thereis state change in the voltage at the node 15 after time is 122 μsec,and the DC wandering is removed. Thus, there is no DC wandering effectand the output of the comparator 40 at the node 15 is as expectedwithout any distortion.

While the present invention has been described with a preferredembodiment, this description is not intended to limit our invention.Various modifications of the embodiment will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. It is therefore contemplated that the appendedclaims will cover any such modifications or embodiments as fall withinthe true scope of the invention.

1. A DC level wandering cancellation method for a circuit having aninverting-gain amplifier, the method comprising: comparing an outputsignal of the inverting-gain amplifier with a reference voltage; andfeeding back the output signal of the inverting-gain amplifier to theinverting-gain amplifier when there is a state change in the comparedresult.
 2. The DC level wandering cancellation method of claim 1,wherein the state change is a level changed from high to low, or fromlow to high.